Helen Calder has been at 1 events

Bestselling British science fiction authors Iain M. Banks, Alastair Reynolds and Peter Hamilton have come together for a unique Science Fiction Hangout on Air. They will be hanging out live on @106886664866983861036 on Thursday, September 27th at 6:00pm (London Time) to discuss their latest books and science fiction in general. To join Iain, Alastair and Peter in the live hangout, submit your best question for the panel in the comments below and let us know how we can contact you here: http://goo.gl/052bq and +Google Play will reach out to you if you’ve been selected.
Don't forget to check out their books on Google Play:
Peter F.Hamilton: http://goo.gl/42YHI
Iain M. Banks: http://goo.gl/xHp18
Alastair Reynolds: http://goo.gl/6NI54

Most comments: 9

No, come back, not like that. I mean that I'm crowd-sourcing and idea and the ladies and gentlemen of this fine community have just the sort of esoteric knowledge that I need.

I'm working on a novel and I need a name for an incredibly dangerous magical ritual that involves summoning a Succubus/Incubus. Now if there's a historical ritual that supposedly does that and has a name that sounds suitably ominous then great but how it sounds is more important than accuracy - it could be the name that the character gave it rather than the real name.

Help me, Suppressed Transmission, you're my only hope. Also there's a dedication in it for whoever has the best suggestion.﻿

Most reshares: 4

Here's a little something for anyone wanting to add colour to a fantasy game. Though it does make me wonder why we need fantasy when somewhere in the our world a 13-year old girl hunts foxes and wolves with a semi-tame golden eagle.﻿

This is some Supervillain level shit. A global outage just as the Trading day begins in London? A "delay" in the sale of UK debt? Next thing you hear some dude called Moriarty will be named a government advisor.﻿

This is some Supervillain level shit. A global outage just as the Trading day begins in London? A "delay" in the sale of UK debt? Next thing you hear some dude called Moriarty will be named a government advisor.﻿___

There is something deeply creepy about these places. Something about the pictures is tickling the back of my mind. There's a killer plot in there for a horror/supernatural game I'm just not sure what it is.

I do know that Scooby Doo and his friends would be all over a haunted water park, abandoned or not.﻿

There is something deeply creepy about these places. Something about the pictures is tickling the back of my mind. There's a killer plot in there for a horror/supernatural game I'm just not sure what it is.

I do know that Scooby Doo and his friends would be all over a haunted water park, abandoned or not.﻿___

Warren Ellis posted this to his Tumblr blog. My first thought was that we're living in the beginning of the Shadowrun future and that we're all fucked. Then I started thinking about it as plot.

Here's an exercise for all of you and it can probably be applied to any setting. Your players are up against a religiously driven militia. There are rumors that the militia has been desecrating the bodies of it's enemies by burning them but when your PCs find some it becomes clear that organs have been removed. What are the militia doing with these organs or why? Is it as mundane as selling them? Are they magical components? Building a flesh golem? Give us your best ideas.﻿

Warren Ellis posted this to his Tumblr blog. My first thought was that we're living in the beginning of the Shadowrun future and that we're all fucked. Then I started thinking about it as plot.

Here's an exercise for all of you and it can probably be applied to any setting. Your players are up against a religiously driven militia. There are rumors that the militia has been desecrating the bodies of it's enemies by burning them but when your PCs find some it becomes clear that organs have been removed. What are the militia doing with these organs or why? Is it as mundane as selling them? Are they magical components? Building a flesh golem? Give us your best ideas.﻿___

I hope no one minds me posting this here. Some of you will have read some of The Department fiction that +Niles Calder and I have posted and I hope you've enjoyed it. I am currently seeking Beta Readers for the first Department novel. I'm trying to get it ready for a competition with a closing date in 21 days.

I'm looking for people who have enough time to read and comment on a complete draft sometime next week. You need to be able to read the novel and then communicate any errors, continuity problems, stuff that didn't make sense and massively obvious cliches in just a couple of days. For my sanity it will help if you can also tell me what's actually working.

Thanks﻿

I hope no one minds me posting this here. Some of you will have read some of The Department fiction that +Niles Calder and I have posted and I hope you've enjoyed it. I am currently seeking Beta Readers for the first Department novel. I'm trying to get it ready for a competition with a closing date in 21 days.

I'm looking for people who have enough time to read and comment on a complete draft sometime next week. You need to be able to read the novel and then communicate any errors, continuity problems, stuff that didn't make sense and massively obvious cliches in just a couple of days. For my sanity it will help if you can also tell me what's actually working.

I'm crowd sourcing some information because Google has failed me. I'm hoping that some of you will have heard of this.

I remember a story of at least one phantom invasion of Britain by the Germans during the second world war. Someone rang a church bell an some forces were mobilized but it turned out to be nothing. I'm not talking about the mystery of Shingle Street but something else.I'm I going mental or is this an actual thing? And if it is a thing when did it happen?﻿

I'm crowd sourcing some information because Google has failed me. I'm hoping that some of you will have heard of this.

I remember a story of at least one phantom invasion of Britain by the Germans during the second world war. Someone rang a church bell an some forces were mobilized but it turned out to be nothing. I'm not talking about the mystery of Shingle Street but something else.I'm I going mental or is this an actual thing? And if it is a thing when did it happen?﻿___

Yes that's right. The Donald has angered the local protective water spirit, denied the existence of climate change, and destablised the dune system along a particularly stormy stretch of coastline. I'm now taking bets on how long it's going to be before the course is under six foot of water.﻿

Yes that's right. The Donald has angered the local protective water spirit, denied the existence of climate change, and destablised the dune system along a particularly stormy stretch of coastline. I'm now taking bets on how long it's going to be before the course is under six foot of water.﻿___

Here's a little something for anyone wanting to add colour to a fantasy game. Though it does make me wonder why we need fantasy when somewhere in the our world a 13-year old girl hunts foxes and wolves with a semi-tame golden eagle.﻿

Here's a little something for anyone wanting to add colour to a fantasy game. Though it does make me wonder why we need fantasy when somewhere in the our world a 13-year old girl hunts foxes and wolves with a semi-tame golden eagle.﻿___

Once again Australia 's Tony Abbot is on the receiving end of an almighty smack down. Read the article, watch the speech and be sure you listen all the way to the end because it just keeps getting better.

And maybe we should start sending Tony Abbot burn ointment.﻿

Once again Australia 's Tony Abbot is on the receiving end of an almighty smack down. Read the article, watch the speech and be sure you listen all the way to the end because it just keeps getting better.

No, come back, not like that. I mean that I'm crowd-sourcing and idea and the ladies and gentlemen of this fine community have just the sort of esoteric knowledge that I need.

I'm working on a novel and I need a name for an incredibly dangerous magical ritual that involves summoning a Succubus/Incubus. Now if there's a historical ritual that supposedly does that and has a name that sounds suitably ominous then great but how it sounds is more important than accuracy - it could be the name that the character gave it rather than the real name.

Help me, Suppressed Transmission, you're my only hope. Also there's a dedication in it for whoever has the best suggestion.﻿

I need to pick your brains.

No, come back, not like that. I mean that I'm crowd-sourcing and idea and the ladies and gentlemen of this fine community have just the sort of esoteric knowledge that I need.

I'm working on a novel and I need a name for an incredibly dangerous magical ritual that involves summoning a Succubus/Incubus. Now if there's a historical ritual that supposedly does that and has a name that sounds suitably ominous then great but how it sounds is more important than accuracy - it could be the name that the character gave it rather than the real name.

Help me, Suppressed Transmission, you're my only hope. Also there's a dedication in it for whoever has the best suggestion.﻿___

*Writing update - Jesus Christ, why does writing have to be so hard? *

Actually that's not true. Writing is easy. Writing what you want to write is hard. Re-writing is harder. Working out what's wrong with your writing is super-fucking hard. Fixing it is like fucking torture.﻿

*Writing update - Jesus Christ, why does writing have to be so hard? *

Actually that's not true. Writing is easy. Writing what you want to write is hard. Re-writing is harder. Working out what's wrong with your writing is super-fucking hard. Fixing it is like fucking torture.﻿___

Just one of many interesting brain diseases than can affect PCs or confuse investigations.

The Woman who could write, but could not read : A sad case to be sure, but the story was definitely something which was fascinating. We know so little about the brain....

Post dedicated to +Knut Torgersen for his birthday..!

Article Extract: One morning, a kindergarten teacher was about to take attendance for her class when she realized she couldn't read the paper in her hands. She tried looking over her lesson plans, but like the attendance sheet, they seemed to be covered in incomprehensible symbols. She didn't know it yet, but the teacher, identified only as M.P. in a recent case study her doctors published about her in the journal Neurology, had had a stroke. The stroke afflicted a very specific part of her brain, leaving the 40-year-old woman with some unusual, but not unprecedented, symptoms—and plenty of functioning outside of that. Her case study is a fascinating look at what the brain, and human ingenuity, are capable of.

It turns out M.P.'s stroke interrupted the connection between the "language zone" of her brain and her visual cortex, her doctors wrote. At the same time, other sensory inputs still connected into her language zone. The results were decidedly weird. She couldn't read, but she could still write and understand spoken English, a symptom called "word blindness." Plus, she still had emotional reactions to seeing words, even though she couldn't recognize them:

Given a word, M.P. will direct her attention to the first letter, which she is unable to recognize. She will then place her finger on the letter and begin to trace each letter of the alphabet over it in order until she recognizes that she has traced the letter she is looking at.

At 4'11" and just over 100 pounds, Michelle Gomez doesn’t look like the sort of person you’d hire to retrieve earthmoving equipment stolen by a Peruvian crime family. But in the summer of 2013, that’s exactly what she was doing.﻿___Now here's an NPC to make your players lives difficult.

Okaaaaaay. This is pretty messed up. But it's also kind of cool. What about an alternative history where the Americans dropped a nuclear bomb on Mt Fuji instead of onto Hiroshima? What happened?

Did bombing volcanoes become a thing? Did mighty Gojira wake from his slumber and head straight for Las Vegas or San Fransico? Did it trigger some kind of volcanic apocalypse? Let me hear your suggestions.﻿

Okaaaaaay. This is pretty messed up. But it's also kind of cool. What about an alternative history where the Americans dropped a nuclear bomb on Mt Fuji instead of onto Hiroshima? What happened?

Did bombing volcanoes become a thing? Did mighty Gojira wake from his slumber and head straight for Las Vegas or San Fransico? Did it trigger some kind of volcanic apocalypse? Let me hear your suggestions.﻿___

I posted this to my circles the other day but then I thought you guys might like it too. Can you use it? What would have happened if he had turned up and she really had thumped him? What other dictators could the Queen have attacked? Or other royals - remember that many of them have served in the military including the Queen herself who drove trucks for the Army during WWII.

In case anyone was wondering what the Queen's roll in a democracy is it would seem to include whacking dictators with swords.﻿___I posted this to my circles the other day but then I thought you guys might like it too. Can you use it? What would have happened if he had turned up and she really had thumped him? What other dictators could the Queen have attacked? Or other royals - remember that many of them have served in the military including the Queen herself who drove trucks for the Army during WWII.

I'm reading this right now. But I just got to a bit that I had to share with you guys.

"Her skin was so pale and smooth, he says, that she could look Asian, or like a light-skinned black woman, or even white. One night, though, he woke up before dawn and saw that his bride’s smooth skin wasn’t so perfect—she had “1,000 wrinkles on her face.” After he caught this illicit glimpse, Linda locked herself in the bathroom for an hour. When she came out, she looked like a whole new person."

Now this is the sort of NPC that every game needs. I'm off to read the rest of the article but I'm setting a challenge. How would you use the Welfare Queen in a game? Comic relief? Vampire on the run? Secret ruler of the city?

Go.﻿

I'm reading this right now. But I just got to a bit that I had to share with you guys.

"Her skin was so pale and smooth, he says, that she could look Asian, or like a light-skinned black woman, or even white. One night, though, he woke up before dawn and saw that his bride’s smooth skin wasn’t so perfect—she had “1,000 wrinkles on her face.” After he caught this illicit glimpse, Linda locked herself in the bathroom for an hour. When she came out, she looked like a whole new person."

Now this is the sort of NPC that every game needs. I'm off to read the rest of the article but I'm setting a challenge. How would you use the Welfare Queen in a game? Comic relief? Vampire on the run? Secret ruler of the city?

What irks me is people telling me that "God has a plan" for me or worse yet "everything happens for a reason".

I am not about to start blaming God or the universe for the shit that happens in my life. Sometimes bad shit just happens and it doesn't mean anything. If there was any justice in the world it would be possible to instantly teleport anyone who says that to the nearest horrible natural disaster so they can try telling someone who's lost everything and everyone that they've ever cared about that it's "all happening for a reason".

Or maybe not. That would be a horrible thing to do to someone who's already got too much to deal with.﻿

What irks me is people telling me that "God has a plan" for me or worse yet "everything happens for a reason".

I am not about to start blaming God or the universe for the shit that happens in my life. Sometimes bad shit just happens and it doesn't mean anything. If there was any justice in the world it would be possible to instantly teleport anyone who says that to the nearest horrible natural disaster so they can try telling someone who's lost everything and everyone that they've ever cared about that it's "all happening for a reason".

Or maybe not. That would be a horrible thing to do to someone who's already got too much to deal with.﻿___